Hazelnutty's New Start

Hazelnutty

Hi all

CC cut off and although it's over target I can make it by trimming some of my virtual pot transfers and other forms of budget spreadsheet wheeling and dealing, which is a relief. Full tank of fuel bought this morning though amid all the news about prices going up by 5p/l. Also took my load of decentish clothes over to the dress agency, so should make some money there. Admittedly, I could make more on ebay or if I drove a lot further to a posher place but I'm willing to forego some income for having less stress and hassle, especially at the moment. Those clothes were languishing in my wardrobe doing nothing so I shouldn't be too hung up on what they may potentially be 'worth'. Isn't there a name for that thing when you overvalue things you own? Anyway, whatever it's called, I'm trying not to do it!

Next step is a good sort out of bags. I LOVE bags. Not just handbags, i fact I almost never use them these days. Love a good backpack or a messenger. Need to weed and pass at least some of them on to a good home. Just nothing on my other FB and Gumtree sales, which is a shame. I think a lot of it is luck/timing. I do love a good clear-out but it'd be nice to make just a little back from the stuff.

Right, better get on with work - catch you all later

Hazelnutty

Not much to report. Only spends have been £5.99 on a book as present for DD's friend, £2.50 on milk and chocolate and £6 on an unscheduled McDs:o Confirmed with EE that my tablet contract, which I'd hardly been using, has now ended so next month's bill should be better, although losing the credit interest on my Nationwide FlexPlus will cancel it out

Fun evening with DD painting cards for various birthdays that descended into chaos with DD covering herself in spare paint when I turned my back :eek: Straight into a bubble bath!

Hazelnutty

OMG so much has happened since my last post :eek: OH has had her major surgery and did so well she was discharged after only 2 nights in (rather than 5-7) So we're home, which is all set up for convalescence. I've been fighting a cold to keep everything together but now we're home it's coming for me. So we're just watching the rugby in our jammies (or rather she's dozing as the screen is too much for her and I'm on here!)

It's been quite a stressful few days. A really nasty, hurtful encounter on the phone with the mum of one of DD's classmates who had agreed to help us out while I was with OH in hospital (1.5 hrs from home town) then lost her sh*t when the handover to some good friends of ours went a bit wrong. It was the thing that tipped me over after holding it together for so long and I was in tears . I was really the only one among the parents who'd engage with her and I'd looked after her daughter for a day when she was stuck but now I see why she's so disliked by the others. I've had to block her as I can't be doing with this level of stress when there's so much else on my plate ATM.

Unfortunately, this includes my XH being diagnosed with cancer (a very treatable one but he'll need aggressive chemo). He's telling DD this weekend. All of this has meant I'm considering moving house to be in the same city as him, which has the same excellent hospital as OH has been treated at. It's a better place for us to live in other respects too. The only real downsides are that I'd have a long commute on the days I need to be in the office and house prices are much higher. We'd be downsizing but TBH that doesn't bother me too much. Although OH and I were both brought up in home town, neither of us is particularly attached to it and are open to building a new life.

A close friend of ours who's been helping out with DD while we've been away has an estate agent business so am going to get the house valued. I suspect it's worth the same or less than when I bought it 2 1/2 years ago. Overpriced new house and a stagnating market I will need to extend my mortgage or borrow from my mum (who's just retiring so may be able to) But current LTV is about 40% so I think it'll be OK (admittedly not very MFW ) Plus DD will switch into the state system and my promotion kicks in next month so things should work out. Mum's coming down for a visit next weekend so we're going to sit down for a major financial conversation, so should have some more news then. In the meantime, I'm going to research schools, trains and houses! It is a BIG change but right for my family. I'm OK with taking the hit on the commute as it feels the right thing to do. Longer term, I'll look for jobs closer to new city, but academic jobs are few and far between and just so competitive. I'm happy in my current job so it's OK for now.

Because of all of this, I've decided not to reinvest my 1 year Chartered Savings Bond but put the balance in an instant access account. I need everything available. In the meantime, I just need to focus a bit more on saving and not leaking money here and there. Every £ will count given how expensive moving is.

Hope you're having a good Saturday

Karmacat

Oh my word! Well, I'm glad your OH did so well that they released her early - but such bad news on everything else how often will you need to do that commute, if you do move to that town?

Hazelnutty

Hi Karma! It's about 2 hrs on the train, one change, plus getting to and from the station each end :eek: (or about 1.5 hours if I drive) But it'd probably be only 3 days a week during term and I could do an overnight with a colleague. A good opportunity for podcasts and novel reading that I don't usually get to do, if I look at it positively. It would definitely be tiring but half the year it'd be less intense and I'd have a better quality of life in the new city when I'm there.

Hazelnutty

I've done my monthly financial sorting, spreadsheeting and squirreling! Is it sad to find this strangely satisfying! It's been an OK month. CC was over but not hugely so, which makes a massive difference. I got the refund I requested from Tonik for gas & electric credit balance, which I immediately paid off the CC along with the interest earned from the first of my 2 regular savers. Also
* £12.91 of TTs OP'd
* £20 tranferred to Starling account for holiday cash (Spain Xmas jaunt), along with an additional £100 from the holiday pot OH pays into. Stash is building up nicely although who knows what the exchange rate for Euros will be by then
* £25 to 2nd account for guilt-free spends (aka coffee )
* £500 from Chartered to new Al Rayan account, set up after spotting on MSE (now I'm not doing another bond I need as high as possible return on an instant access account - it's 1.6% expected profit)
* Another £500 transferred from Chartered to funnel through the next round of regular savers (I have one at Nationwide and another at Saffron BS)
* £700 squirrelled into virtual pots. I have to pay off the Spain trip in a few days so that was the biggest 'stash'. Then it'll be starting again for next year's hols. I never interrailed as a student so hoping to do something like that with OH and DD on a more modest scale. But if we move I guess it's more likely to be a few days on a campsite!

We've just spent the day in our jammies. I hadn't noticed the impact on me of the last few days. I have a fitbit and my resting heartrate has gone up 10bpm. Really need the rest.

Hazelnutty

Hello all!!
I can't believe it's 9 months since I posted here! Well, maybe I can as since then I/we/the world has gone through so much. I sold my house in November but it took until April to complete with an absolute nightmare of a buyer. Luckily, we managed to exchange the week before lockdown and the sellers of the new house (which had been empty for months) agreed to let us move in early the following week   Two days later, the removal company stopped working! So the family were able to lockdown together in our new place
I'm not actively MFW yet as there is quite a lot of work to get done on the house. It was rented for many years and repairs were done on the cheap so there's a general refurb then a bigger project to remodel the downstairs and add a garden room (basically because the house is a major downsize due to the difference in house prices ). I wanted to restart the diary to chart my way through everything, getting settled and then finally resuming my MFW dreams I hope some of you will follow me along the way
I'm really lucky that my mum's lending me a good chunk of the money to get this work done (partly self-interest as she wants to come stay in the garden room!) But I need to get back into MSE ways to ensure I can pay for the rest and pay her back. I'll be back soon with my financial plans and aims

Hazelnutty

The plan!
I have £10k saved in one savings account, which I'm not going to touch unless in an emergency (it's 6 months of essential bills). Redundancy isn't on the table at the moment but the threat hasn't gone away completely and I want to keep this as a safety net. I'd ideally like to get this to £15k. I support my family on my income (plus child support from DD's dad) so I'm very risk-averse on this front. I save around £200 a month to this account at the moment and will see how I go.

I have another £10k in an easy access account, which I'm putting towards the build, plus another 4k saved in a pot attached to my current account. I am adding to this every payday as part of my stashing efforts (saving towards annual expenses, memberships, pet expenses, haircuts, presents etc), so far to the tune of £500-600/month but I won't be able to sustain this when I'm commuting again (new house is over an hour's drive from work but we moved for family and health reasons). The build should be done by September, but a final backstop is that at the end of the month, a regular saver matures. I'll decide then where the proceeds go. I usually recycle them into a new regular saver but unexpected costs are bound to pop up

All of this depends on running a tight ship. I totally let the food budget go during lockdown, getting weekly Goust0 boxes and a big shop at Tesc0 (the store I felt safest in). Loads of treats to cheer the family up I've now gone back to L1dl and reined in the excessive shopping and snacking (must have put on a stone ) I'm aiming to spend no more than £300/month for 3 people and 2 cats. I do love my budget spreadsheet so will be keeping an eagle eye on that along the way!

Once the work's done, I'm aiming to start OPing again. My mortgage stands at just under £145k so my target is to OP 1% in 2021 and to do the finishing touches on the house to make it our long-term home, like the garden but we can take our time. OH is hoping to be able to start working a few hours a week and that'll really help. I'm also decluttering (very necessary as new house is much smaller than old one) and able to sell bits and pieces to add to the pot. I'm hoping to use this diary to keep me focused and on budget

Hazelnutty

Hello everyone
Today is brought to you by coffee... I've spent the morning composing online reading lists for next year's teaching and I'm not even half-way through Having said that, we're putting on some really interesting stuff related to the current situation and I'm really looking forward to working with the students. Cashed out just over £40 from Quidc0 last night in JL vouchers: saving up for finishing the build with some nice home decor I wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. I also do my monthly spend on a JL card (entirely for the vouchers  so have a nice stash building up. Checked my budgets and I have about £120 leeway on the monthly budget - anything I have left over will go into the house pot. JL CC is looking tidy too. Refund from an unwise purchase has just come in and am on course to be under budget when it cuts of mid-month.

One of my other goals is to get back in shape. Lockdown has not been good for my waistline - I struggled initially to get into a routine work-wise and the chaos in the new house wasn't great for my motivation. Far too many takeaways and treats and not enough getting outside and exercising, basically. The whole Cummings thing seemed to change the mood and it's been way too stressful for OH to use the local park. We've started driving 10' or so into the country for walks and that seems to help. We did a lovely 5m walk yesterday while DD was with her Dad and met 2 people. I'm hoping the diary will help keen me on track with some daily exercise as well as the money side of things

Karmacat

Oh my, you managed the move just in time!  And, this might sound like an odd thing to say, but I think its good that your new house had been empty for a while - means there was just ordinary spring cleaning for you, not virus cleaning.

Totally with you on too many treats and lots of coffee.  Mine aren't takeaways, its fortunate that I don't like more than the very occasional one, but there's plenty of other things I *do* eat.

Liking the sound of driving into the countryside for your walk - I'd do that, absolutely.  Here, there are town crossroads where I *know* there are oodles of people trying to use them, and a big percentage don't really care about social distancing.

Good luck with The Plan!